Ludwig van Beethoven composed his five large piano concertos over a period of twenty years. His Fifth Concerto in E-flat major op. 73, first published in 1810/11, is here presented in a piano reduction for two pianos. This edition, in the quality one has come to expect from an Urtext, is based on the Beethoven Complete Edition and is designed for practical use. In order to do justice to Beethoven’s intentions, the composer’s characteristic notation has been retained in the solo part. The preface, by the Beethoven researcher Hans-Werner Küthen, offers valuable details on the source situation and on its historical context, describing the circumstances of the year of its composition (1809) during the Napoleonic occupation of Vienna.

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Preface

Henle already published Beethoven’s piano concertos in full score as part of its New Beethoven Complete Edition and brought out op. 73 in its study score series. This practical edition for two pianos is intended to make these works available to a broader public. The piano reduction of the orchestral part has been compiled from the musical text edited by Hans-Werner Küthen … more

About the composer

Ludwig van Beethoven

No composer has had as profound and sustained an influence on immediately following generations to the present day as Beethoven. His instrumental music, especially his symphonies, served as touchstones for symphonic composition throughout the nineteenth century. The extraordinarily high standard of his music and his relative independence as a freelance composer have led to his being characterized as the greatest composer of all time.

1770

Baptized in Bonn on December 17, thus probably born on December 16, the son of Johann van Beethoven, a tenor in the court chapel of the prince-elector. First musical instruction from his father.

1778

First public performance.

around 1780

Musical training with the deputy court organist Christian Gottlob Neefe, who in 1783 presented him in Cramer’s “Magazin der Musik” as a second Mozart.

1782

Acquaintance with the Breuning family, where his literary interest is aroused. First publication: Piano Variations in C minor on a March by Dressler, WoO 63.

1783

Harpsichordist in the court chapel; 1784 assistant to the court organist.

1787

Journey to Vienna. Here he very likely meets Mozart, who probably gives him some lessons. After a short while he must return home to his mother, who is ill with tuberculosis.

1792

He travels a second time to Vienna, where he will remain until the end of his life. Count von Waldstein sends him on his way with the famous words: “With steady diligence you will receive Mozart’s spirit from Haydn's hands.” In Vienna he studies with Haydn, Albrechtsberger, Schuppanzigh, and Salieri. As a pupil of Joseph Haydn, he achieves extraordinary recognition among the Viennese nobility and receives financial support. Great demand for his compositions from publishing houses: chamber music and piano sonatas from the Bonn and early Viennese years are issued. His first works printed in Vienna (among them the piano sonatas, Op. 2) already bear the hallmark of his compositional style: a forward-advancing, spirited, process-related character.

1796

Concert tours to Prague, Berlin, Leipzig, and Dresden, which cement his fame.

Crisis brought on by incipient hearing loss, documented in the “Heiligenstadt Testament.” Thereafter he begins, by his own admission, a “New Path” in his compositions, reflected particularly in the piano sonatas, Op. 31 (including the Tempest Sonata); the piano variations, Op. 34 and 35; and the Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, “Eroica,” Op. 55: they are characterized by enhanced structural development as well as by the use of Baroque techniques and models from other genres.

Beethoven rejects an offer to become the First Kapellmeister at the court in Kassel because his patrons, Archduke Rudolph, Prince Kinsky, and Prince Lobkowitz, provide him with a comparable yearly salary.

1811/12

Travels to the spa at Teplitz, where he meets Goethe. In 1812, the letter to the “immortal beloved,” whose identity (Antonie Brentano or Josephine Deym) is still uncertain.

1814

Piano Sonata in E minor, Op. 90; third version of the opera “Fidelio.” Extraordinarily successful concert with Symphonies Nos. 7 and 8. Still, financial crisis brought about by currency devaluation and the absence of yearly stipends from Kinsky and Lobkowitz.

1815

Death of his brother Caspar Carl and the beginning of the years-long battle for the guardianship of his nephew Karl.

Piano Sonata in E major, Op. 109, marks the beginning of his glorious late period, which is characterized by exceeding the boundaries of forms, by extreme pitch registers, advanced harmonies, and an increased penchant for contrapuntal forms such as fugue; standing in opposition to the propensity for esotericism in his chamber music is the monumentality of Symphony No. 9.

1821/22

Piano Sonatas in A-flat major, Op. 110 (with fugue in the final movement), and C minor, Op. 111 (reduction to two movements).

1822–26

String quartets, Opp. 127, 130, 131, 132, 135, as well as the Grosse Fuge, Op. 133, which originally formed the final movement of Op. 130.

1823/24

Completion of the Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, which for the first time in the history of the genre includes voice parts (Schiller’s “Ode to Joy”). It will become the most famous and most frequently played symphony of all time.

About the authors

Hans-Werner Küthen (Editor)

Dr. Hans-Werner Küthen, born in 1938 in Cologne, studied in Bonn and Bologna and did his doctorate in 1985 at Bonn University. From 1968–2003 he worked as a research associate at the Beethoven-Archiv in Bonn. His most important publications include: Beethoven: Critical Edition of the volume “Ouverturen und Wellingtons Sieg”, as well as all of the Piano Concertos (3 volumes) in the New Complete Edition of Beethoven’s Works. He has written numerous essays and articles on Beethoven and his contemporaries, and since 1969 has given lectures both in Germany and abroad.

These recent publications by Henle are welcome new resource for performers. Henle's finely produced editions of the well known 'Emperor' Concerto and the 'Triple Concerto' are exemplary. Rehearsal figures, orchestrational cues and markings, and clear indications of tutti and solos combine with lucid presentation of the musical text. The Triple Concerto also includes separate parts for each soloist while the orchestral piano reduction is clearly set out alongside the piano trio. ... the scholarly introductions offer illuminating commentary about the historical background to each work. ... Some of the score annotations are directly connected with Beethoven's teaching, with comments from leading theorists and a transcription of the orchestral part for figured bass. ... [Arietta]

... There is extensive emphasis on the historical backgrounds to both works that is certainly of interest to the reader, with apparent assurances that textual discrepancies are absorbed into the score rather than actually being referred to separately at the end of the volume. [Music Teacher Magazine]

Hans-Werner Küthen has finally given these masterpieces the editions they deserve, and his achievement is matched by intelligent fingering from Hans Kann. Any edition of Beethoven must be a compromise, of course, but these glorious publications are uniquely informative both in their introductions and editorial notes about the decisions made. ... The latest musicological evidence leads to refreshed perspectives at every turn, and the results are continuously lucid and illuminating. One need only look at the extraordinary touches which have been applied to the cadenzas of the Fourth Concerto to quickly see this. ... Yes if one considers that they present state-of-the art musicological research, fascinating and readable historical introductions, and new insights at every turn, the extra cost is more than justified. [International Piano Quarterly]